The Story Collider

This week we share two stories from people who have go on wild goose chases to find their dads. Part 1: In his last year of medical school in Colombia, Gabriel Duran Rehbein finds out his father has been kidnapped. Part 2: After seeing her dad lose control of his mind, art student Minerva Contreras decides to study the brain, in hopes of understanding him. Gabriel Duran Rehbein, MD describes himself as a huge nerd and a pathological optimist. He is currently making full use of both those characteristics as a Research Fellow in the Viviane Tabar Lab at MSKCC, where his work focuses on the development of a novel real-time drug screening platform for primary brain tumors using patient-derived three-dimensional explant cultures. He obtained his MD from Universidad de los Andes in his native city of Bogotá, Colombia. When he is not in the lab, Gabriel enjoys reading, attending concerts and spending time with friends. He is always on the lookout for places to go salsa dancing.”  Minerva Contreras is a senior at Universidad Autonoma  de Queretaro, where she is majoring in Biotechnology Engineering with a  focus in Biomedical Sciences. Her undergrad research has lead her to  explore different areas within neurobiology such as the molecular  biology of glioblastoma at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, and  neurodegenerative diseases at UCSD Sanford Consortium for Regenerative  Medicine. Before discovering her passion for science, Minerva completed  an AA in Filmmaking; she believes this was an important contribution to  her appreciation for diversity and humanities. Her future goals include  pursuing a doctoral degree in Neurosciences, as well as creatively  communicating science to the general public, especially future  generations, in a relatable fashion. As of next fall, she will be a grad student in the Neurosciences PhD program at UCSD.  In her spare time, she enjoys going  on hikes with her dogs, strength training, and spending time with her  family and friends.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we present two stories from people who were underwater both literally and metaphorically. Part 1: Barbara Abernathy has always felt at home in the ocean, but when she undergoes a bone marrow transplant, her doctor tells her she can't go into the water for a year. Part 2: With only two days to find and extract a sample from one of the oldest coral colonies in the world, Konrad Hughen finds himself at the bottom of the ocean with a broken drill bit. Barbara Abernathy, PhD, LMHC, is the President and CEO of the Pediatric Oncology Support Team, Inc. (POST), a nonprofit helping children and their families cope with the devastating effects of cancer. Being a cancer survivor herself, she brings a personal touch to the children and families battling childhood cancer. She has 30 years’ experience in nonprofits, 21 of those years at POST. She has a PhD in Counselor Education and Leadership from Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Master of Education in Counseling from the University of South Alabama, A Master of Science in Biology from FAU, and a Bachelor of Education in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University. She is adjunct faculty at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and FAU. Other professional experience includes pediatric AIDS, bereavement, family counseling, parent education, and treatment of severely abused children. Barbara has presented as an invited speaker at many national and international professional conferences and numerous community and school settings. Her interview with Heal magazine was published in the Spring 2018 issue under the title: “Surviving Survivorship.” She has authored three scholarly peer-reviewed articles. She was awarded the Giraffe Award for women “who stick their neck out for others” by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County. She also won the 2017 Heroes in Medicine Award presented by the Palm Beach Medical Society and the 2018 MPN Heroes award given by the American Society of Hematology in December.  Konrad Hughen is a Senior Scientist in the department of Marine  Chemistry and Geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution  (WHOI).  He received a double B.Sc. in Biology and Geology at the  University of California, Santa and was awarded a NASA Graduate Research  Fellowship, leading to his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado,  Boulder.  Konrad was also awarded a NOAA Climate and Global Change  Postdoctoral Fellowship, which he pursued at Harvard University before  joining the scientific faculty at WHOI. As a geochemist and  paleoclimatologist, Konrad’s research interests involve the development  and application of proxy indicators for reconstructing climatic and  environmental change, focusing on materials from modern coral tissues to  centuries-old coral drill cores.  His investigations have taken him all  over the world, including recent expeditions to Micronesia, Red Sea,  Maldives, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Cuba.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we bring you two stories of people who had to reckon with the fact that their first choice wasn’t available. Part 1: When the local science museum looks to hire performers, David Nett believes he's the perfect man for the job. Part 2: After finding out her uterus never developed, scientist Chivonne Battle searches for an alternative way to become a mother. David Nett has spent over 20 years in Los Angeles writing, producing,  and acting in TV, film, and theater. Currently, he’s the writer for Geek  & Sundry’s "Starter Kit,” the VP of Entertainment Development for  ArcMedia, co-owner of Hero’s Journey Fitness with his wife, Christy, and  the Dungeon Master for two ongoing Dungeons & Dragons campaigns,  one that he’s been running since 1987. He wants to thank his parents,  who did not utter a single angry word (to his face) when he left his  academic scholarships behind to study acting.  Chivonne Battle is a VT graduate student with a B.S. in Material Science  & Engineering (VT, ’05), ultimately in pursuit of a Planning,  Governance, & Globalization Ph.D. Her career is based in  engineering, however, growing up unexposed and embedded in the cyclic  behaviors resulting from poverty, lives in her heart. Chivonne’s life  changed when she connected her background to the social engineering  world, in hopes of tackling the physiological and psychological impact  of socio-economic despair. On this team, she seeks and unveils truth in  working with communities/local governments with infrastructural  concerns; while journeying on to reverse the effects of poverty.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we present two more stories about people who need help to deal with mental health. Part 1: Comedian Zack Stovall reevaluates his past battles with his mother in light of a new diagnosis. Part 2: Audrey Kearns' big opportunity to appear as a panelist at a "nerd-convention" turns disastrous when she has an unexpected reaction to a new antidepressant. Zack Stovall is a writer, producer, cartoonist, and  comedian. He currently produces the Story Collider and has performed  stand-up and sketch comedy across the South, Midwest, and New York. Zack  has written for St. Louis Magazine and Vulture, and is the author of a  collection of cartoons, 'Fancy Things.' He currently lives in New York  City with his wife, Rebekah, and their goldendoodle, Newman. Zack tweets as @zstovall and lost most of his hair sometime in 2009. Audrey Kearns is a writer, actor and producer. She majored in both  theatre and political science at the University of Florida. The  political science degree was to make her mother happy because her mother  thought that living as an actor would be god-awful. She was right.  Audrey is the founder and editor-in-chief of the influential pop culture  website, Geek Girl Authority. She hosts and produces the podcasts Geeky  Fun Time, Kneel Before Aud and 5 Truths and a Lie. She is a Los Angeles  producer and host of The Story Collider. She also wrote, produced and  performed in the successful one-person comedy Obsessively Okay which  somehow managed to combine her battles with Obsessive Compulsive  Disorder with her love for Star Trek cosplay. If that's not nerdy enough  for you, then just ask her to show you the two separate inhalers she  carries with her at all times  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we present two stories about people’s struggles with their own mental health. Part 1: After passing out on the NYC subway, comedian Mike Brown is forced to take a deeper look at his mental health. Part 2: Emily Yarrison survives her suicide attempt and has to ask herself a whole new set of questions. Mike Brown is a New York comic who travels the country and still doesn’t know how to drive. He currently hosts "You Good? with Mike Brown: A Mental Health Podcast" on Loud Speakers Network. He has appeared on NBC, MTV, TBS, Adult Swim, E!, SIRIUS XM and has been a guest on popular podcasts such as Keith and the Girl, The Black Guy Who Tips and The Hilarious World of Depression. Mike has performed in multiple festivals including the New York Comedy Festival and San Francisco SketchFest where he was named one of Rooftop’s Comics to Watch. He has written for Decoded with Franchesca Ramsey (MTV), written/created/starred in critically-acclaimed web series "Can't Stop, Won't Stop," along with costarring in numerous viral videos amassing over 10,000,000+ views. Mike is really good at talking and tweeting. On socials: @yomikebrown and @yougoodpod  // Online: yomikebrown.com  Emily is a high school English teacher in Alexandria, VA. She works with newly arrived immigrants and now knows bad words in many languages. She is a Moth StorySLAM winner and will be competing in the Washington DC GrandSLAM in November.  Emily spends her free time volunteering at Camp Quest Chesapeake as well as traveling internationally by herself because she would apparently like to worry her mother to death. You can find her online at @emilyyarrison. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

his week we present two stories of scientists becoming mothers. Part 1: Heather Williams trades in her physicist labcoat for motherhood, and wonders if she can return. Part 2: Mary Garcia-Cazarin discovers she's pregnant just as she is offered a prestigious science policy fellowship, and worries about whether she can't cope with both. Heather Williams is a principal medical physicist at The Christie  hospital in Manchester, UK, where she oversees imaging and therapy in  the Nuclear Medicine Department and specialises in Positron Emission  Tomography. Heather is an advocate for science communication to  non-expert audiences and is passionate about supporting Women in STEM.  The latter lead her to set up ScienceGrrl back in 2012, a grassroots  national network with 10 local chapters throughout the UK that help  match scientists with speaking opportunities close to them. Williams is a  current member of the IOP's Women in Physics group committee and  represents the Institute of Physics within the European Platform for  Women Scientists (EPWS). In 2017 she was awarded the IOP Phillips Award  for distinguished service to the IOP through the Women in Physics Group.  When she’s not working, Heather enjoys running, cycling, hiking and  spending time with her sons.    Mary Garcia-Cazarin, Ph.D., M.S. is a Scientific Advisor for the Tobacco  Regulatory Science Program (TRSP) in the Office of Disease Prevention  at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she helps to stimulate  and coordinate collaborative tobacco regulatory science research; and  implementation of initiatives related to disease prevention, tobacco and  public health. Previously, Dr. Garcia-Cazarin was an American  Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology  Policy Fellow in the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS). She is an  alumna of the Linton-Poodry SACNAS Leadership Institute (2011) and the  Advanced Leadership Institute (2017). Dr. Garcia-Cazarin is a former  SACNAS Board Member. She received her Bachelor of Science in  pharmaceutical chemistry from Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico, her  Master of Science in biology from James Madison University, in  Harrisonburg, Virginia, and her Ph.D. in pharmacology from the  University of Kentucky in Lexington. She is a passionate about training  and mentoring and an advocate of outreach programs to increase  participation of underrepresented groups in science-related fields.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we present two stories about people finding strength in their own voice. Part 1:  A parent-teacher conference leads Eugenia Duodu to question whether she can be a scientist. Part 2: At 13 years old Misha Gajewski has to undergo a jaw surgery to fix a face she is just getting used to. Eugenia Duodu is the Toronto-based CEO of Visions of Science, which  inspires kids from low-income and marginalized communities to pursue  careers in STEM. As a youth born and raised in a low-income community,  she strives to maintain a strong connection to her local and global  community by being a mentor and advocate. Her goal is to help make a  long-lasting positive impact in communities through STEM engagement and  in-turn allow youth to unlock their potential. Eugenia holds a PhD in  Chemistry from the University of Toronto.  Misha is a freelance journalist whose work has been featured on Vice,  BBC and CTV News, among others. She is also a journalism Professor at  Seneca College and a scriptwriter for the popular Youtube channel  SciShow. Misha has a degree in business and psychology from Western  University and a Masters in science journalism from City University  London. She also has a cat named Satan and when she’s not writing in her  pyjamas she can be found exploring the world or repurposing old  furniture. She is @mishagajewski  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, for National Pet Parents day, we bring you two stories of our relationships with our cats. Part 1:  In a battle over her apartment's air quality, cat foster mom Tracy Rowland discovers how to use her kitten's parasite as a weapon.  Part 2: Gianmarco Soresi learns more about cats than he ever wanted to when his girlfriend adopts five. Tracy is a 3-time Moth StorySLAM champion who first appeared on the  Story Collider stage in 2011, with a tale that tangentially had to do  with monkeys. She's also part of the producing and hosting team behind  The Liar Show, a long-running NYC institution.  Tracy works days as a  writer and video editor, where her promos and shorts have appeared on  NBC, Cartoon Network, and Al Jazeera America. She won a local Emmy in  2010, but her mom still thinks it was the regular kind.  Check out more at www.tracyrowland.com. Gianmarco Soresi is a New York based stand up comic, storyteller and actor. He’s  headlined Carolines on Broadway, Stand Up NY, EastVille Comedy Club, DC Comedy Loft, and his work has been featured on Funny or Die, Fast Company, The Atlantic, York, SeeSo’s New York’s Funniest, George Takei Presents, and Netflix’s  upcoming global series Bonding. He recently acted opposite Tracy Morgan  on TBS’ The Last O.G., Tom Selleck on CBS’ Blue Bloods, ABC’s Deception,  TruTV, and Comedy Central. More at www.gianmarcosoresi.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we present two stories of the children we used to be and how they grew up. Part 1: As a sixth grader, Anna Neu decides she's going to fall in love at science camp. Part 2: At age nine, Anicca Harriot plans to study both the heart and space, but as she gets older, that plan becomes more challenging than she expected. Anna Neu has several interests including improv, sketch  comedy and voiceover work. She is a trained dancer and Michael Howard  Studio Conservatory taught actor. She performs at the Magnet Theater on  weekends in shows such as The Armando Diaz Experience and has been on  several house teams there. Her voice can be heard on a handful of  episodes of The Truth Podcast. Also a Moth Story Slam winner.   Anicca Harriot is currently working on her PhD in  Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University of Maryland  School of Medicine. Her research focuses on mechanotransduction – the  science of how mechanical stresses and physical forces, like gravity,  affect cell signaling and function. Anicca plans to use her degree to  explore the effects of long duration space missions on the human body  and hopes to someday venture out into the final frontier for herself.  Anicca is also the Social Media Coordinator & LGBTQ+ Engagement  Specialist for #VanguardSTEM: Conversations for Women of Color in STEM, a  non-profit dedicated to lifting the voices of women and non-binary  people of color in STEM. In her free time Anicca volunteers with  #Popscope, “popping up” with a telescope around Baltimore to promote  public astronomy and encourage curiosity.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we present two stories about scientists who became the face of the scientific community. Part 1: When conservation scientist Laura Kehoe writes about a surprising chimp behavior, the media takes it wildly out of context and the situation spirals out of control. Part 2: When The Colbert Report calls about her research, marine biologist Skylar Bayer finds an unexpected collaborator and friend in the fisherman helping her get scallops. Laura Kehoe is  a post-doctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia & University of Victoria, where she's busy developing a cost-effective conservation plan for the over 100 species of concern in the Fraser  River estuary, Vancouver. Laura’s research has the overall goal of  finding pathways to balance human resource use with the conservation of biodiversity. To do this, she develops & applies approaches grounded  in spatial statistics, spatial ecology, & conservation decision  science. Laura is the founder of a campaign to regenerate degraded farmland via planting trees.To date, her initiative has planted over  100,000 trees (visit 400trees.org to find out more). This story is about her first job in conservation with the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation in Guinea.     Skylar Bayer is a marine biologist, a storyteller, and a science  communicator. She completed her Ph.D. in the secret sex lives of  scallops, a subject that landed her on The Colbert Report in 2013. Since  then she has dabbled in a diversity of science communication  activities, all of which you can read about on her website. She's an  alum of the D.C.-based Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship  program. Currently, she is a National Academy of Sciences NRC  post-doctoral Research Associate at the NOAA Milford Laboratory and is  the Secretary of the Ecological Society of America's Communication &  Engagement Section. Her heart, husband, house, two dogs and a grumpy cat all reside in Maine. She also enjoys Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the gentle  art. Follow her on Twitter @drsrbayer.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The week we present two stories of people being confronted with chaos and looking for peace. Part 1: Overwhelmed by setbacks as she pursues her academic ambitions, Tricia Hersey discovers an unexpected solution to her stress. Part 2: Cell biologist Sarah Hird's first pregnancy becomes a crisis in her scientific faith when doctors warn her that there may be something severely wrong with her baby. Tricia Hersey is a Chicago native living in Atlanta  with over 20 years experience working with communities as a teaching  artist, poet, performance artist and community activist. She believes  impromptu spectacles and site specific installations can bring awareness  to social justice issues that paralyze our communities. Tricia has  research interests that include black liberation theology, womanism and somatics. Her work has been seen with Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Park District, Columbia College Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre, United  States Peace Corps and Google Chicago. Tricia has a Bachelor of Science  in Public Health from Eastern Illinois University and a Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Her current project is The Nap Ministry, a community installation that  examines that liberating power of rest by curating safe spaces for community to nap together.  Sarah Hird is an Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cell Biology at  the University of Connecticut. Her primary research interest is in how the microbiome has interacted with avian evolution. What role have microbes played in bird diversification and does this role differ from other major branches on the tree of life? She is also interested in how  we can diversify and democratize the STEM fields and Academia. Dr. Hird holds a Master’s degree from the University of Idaho and a PhD from Louisiana State University. She was a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow  at the University of California Davis.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we present two stories about being the new one in a new place. Part 1: After moving to a brand-new school in the seventh grade, Edith Gonzalez struggles to maintain her straight-A status with a new, scary biology teacher. Part 2: When social scientist Meltem Alemdar leaves her home in Turkey to pursue her education in the US, she struggles to find her identity. Edith Gonzalez is a native Nuyorican with four graduate degrees in various sub-disciplines of anthropology. By day, she is an historical  archaeologist studying bio-prospecting in the 18th-century English-speaking Caribbean. By night, she has a "slight" obsession with Lord of the Rings, and the dance intersection of late 70's disco and early 80's punk.  She is a veteran of MOTH and Take Two Storytelling  (among others). As a two-time Smut Slam champion, she also enjoys telling dirty stories to a room full of strangers.  Meltem Alemdar is a social scientist and native of Ankara, Turkey. She came to Atlanta in 2000 to attend Georgia Tech's Language Institute,  then decided to pursue a Master's, and then a doctoral degree.  Dr. Alemdar earned her PhD in Education Policy, with a concentration in  Research, Measurement, and Statistics, at Georgia State University in 2009. She is Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist at Georgia  Institute of Technology’s Center for Education Integrating Science,  Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). Her research focuses on improving  K-12 STEM education through research on curriculum development, teacher  education, and student learning in integrated STEM environments. Dr. Alemdar has led numerous NSF-funded research projects that spans on project-based learning, STEM integration, engineering education, and  social network analysis. She is passionate about improving K-12 public  education system through her research.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we are presenting two stories from people who took to the open ocean. Part 1: As an irresponsible 17-year-old, Brian D. Bradley volunteers to spend two days living at the bottom of the ocean for a research study. Part 2: As an undergrad, Beryl Kahn takes a semester at sea after a bad breakup and gets rocked by the swells of the sea -- and her emotions. Brian Bradley started writing because he couldn’t draw.  At first he wanted to be a poet, but he quickly discovered that poems  are pretty difficult. Next, he tried dramatic stage plays, but the  results were kind of embarrassing.  Finally, he gave up and started  writing television for shows like MadTV, Scrubs and Happy Endings. He  co-created for television Uncle Buck for ABC and is the writer/producer  of a number of TV pilots he’s very proud to have been paid for, but that  you will probably never see. He’s very pleased to have a chance to  share a story for Story Collider and he still can’t draw.  Beryl Kahn is finishing up her second year as a Masters' student at  Columbia University's department of Ecology, Evolution, and  Environmental Biology, or E3B, where she's been studying the genetics of  pollution resilience in oysters. Prior to starting grad school, she  worked as an educator and restoration tech at Randall's Island Park in  New York City, which cemented her niche as an urban marine ecologist.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Part 1: A power outage on campus leads physics student Zoya Vallari to take a stand against her university's female-only curfew. Part 2: Firefighter Nick Baskerville is eager to prove himself when he arrives on the scene of his first fire. Zoya Vallari is a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech where she studies  fundamental particles called neutrinos. She received a PhD in particle  physics from Stony Brook University in December 2018. She's the  winner of Three Minute Thesis competition at her graduate school and was  awarded the International fellowship by American Association of  University Women. Physics and dance are the two most important ways  in which she relates to the world, though books come a close third. She  loves mangoes, wine and sunshine. She is proud of her ability to lucid  dream.  Nick has had the honor of serving in the United States Air Force for a  total of 14 years. He has 19 years of fire service time, with 16 years  of that being in a career department in Northern Virginia. Nick is a  state certified instructor for the fire service in Virginia where he  teaches classes ranging from basic fire fighter skills to Cancer  awareness for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network (FCSN). Nick is  also a member of Better Said Than Done, a storytelling organization in  Northern VA. His stories have been featured there, The Moth, Storyfest  Short Slam, Secretly, Ya’ll and Perfect Liars Club. Nick has started a  blog, Story Telling On Purpose (www.stop365.blog), as a way to connect the storytelling community with the rest of the DC, MD, VA area.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we present two stories about times in which everything came full circle. Part 1: In the middle of a school day, science teacher Brittany Beck passes out in her classroom, leading her to reflect on what got her here. Part 2: Inspired by her grandfather, Kitty Yang becomes a math teacher, but soon realizes she misses being a student. Brittany Beck is a science teacher at the High School of  Telecommunication Arts and Technology in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Brittany  is also her school’s Coordinator of Student Activities and lives for  event logistics, fundraising and trip organizing, and the facilitating  of many student groups including Women in Science Club and Student  Government. You can follow Brittany on twitter at @brittanbeck. Brittany  has been an MfA Master teacher since 2015.   Kitty is a doctoral candidate in mathematics at Northwestern University,  studying dynamical systems and ergodic theory. She grew up in  California and went to college in New York, and attending school on both  coasts, is now enjoying studying the midwest. She spends her non-math  time tap dancing, running, baking, and watching baking shows. She is  also a labor activist, as an organizing committee member of the  Northwestern University Graduate Workers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices